Bush’s Medicare Drug Fails to Cut Costs

The study found that eight percent of seniors in the government’s Medicare plans spent $300 or more out-of-pocket for drugs, compared with 5 percent for both those covered by the Veterans Affairs Department, which negotiates prices for drugs it covers, and those covered by workplace insurance. Medicare recipients were also more likely to delay or forgo filling prescriptions because of the expense, with one in five enrollees saying they had put off or even skipped getting some medications because of Part D’s high costs. Part of the reason so many beneficiaries are having difficulty paying for their medications is that many low-income seniors apparently do not know that they can get additional government subsidies to lower their costs, the survey indicated.